Miles: 25 Steps: 50,079 Vertical gain: Strava knows Liquid consumed: 178 oz Wildlife: Squirrels, some gnarly porcupine and tiny snake road kill Faith in Humanity: stranger on motorcycle said hello to me and initiated a conversation, then he went back to his cell phone call which was odd, but still real cool of him to say hello! Lots of cars moved way over for me on the roadwalk. That's helpful, thank you! Good day! Woke up and said goodbye to Tree, my 6'8" hiking friend I camped with. He was racing to town and I wasn't racing or headed to town. Tree was such a great guy to connect with and chat and camp for a few hours. This interaction would be pretty common on the AT or PCT, but here on the CDT, there's really not many people out here at all! And just about everyone is a pretty advanced hiker who is certainly comfortable on their own and going their own pace, etc. and you kind of just get used to hiking alone. Interesting. I shared with him how I figured that the CDT was the MOST hiker culture I'll get until I get to the Appalachian Trail on the East coast, which is quite a few months away. We laughed, given that both of us clearly enjoy the company of other hikers and how little of it we've had on our respective hikes. Tree did start at the Canadian border though! So I really have 400 miles left on the Continental Divide Trail to Salida, CO where I'll be branching off. 3 more weeks or so. I do have a few scheduled stops too which I'm excited about coming up real soon: Rocky Mountain National Park- this is so unknown yet so few days away! Haha. Will I need to go into grand Lake for supplies first? Will there be no permits, will I go to Estes Park, what about climbing Long's Peak? I am supposed to have an interview in Grand Lake, but my very confusing answer about when I'll be arriving explained in this paragraph is making me doubt if it'll happen? Who knows.... Mom and Paul are coming to visit- super excited to potentially connect with them on their own road trip exploring National Parks in Utah and Colorado. Aspen - I'll be hitching over Indy Pass to visit friends and have a laptop at least for a couple of days. I have a list of things I'd love to get done, but the logistics site can be challenging given the whole entire day of hiking thing I do all the time, haha! Beautiful Colorado!!! I love it here. It's been so cool to explore more places I haven't spent much time previously. Theres some animal somewhat close to my tent. Go away dude! Haha. Ok off to sleep! At about 10 pm